What I forgot to mention in the last chapter was that during the competition, I have received and will keep receiving rules that I have to follow each chapter. Basically, I will follow the story line rather closely. However there will be a slight change to the end from what I've been told, as well as a possible 'post-credit' storyline, so to speak.
I will not add the rules, though, seeing as they contain spoilers for the chapters. If you really want to know them, I can add them at the end of each chapter.
Sleep came in a rather strange form. The peace and quiet I associated with it did not last long, quickly being replaced by a strange sense of awareness.
I could, in a way, see more clearly because of the distance my resting mind put between my conscious thoughts and the events happening outside this
shell of metal that Ultron had put us in.
'I see better from a distance.'
Huh...That sounded familiar. Where had I heard that before? My mind seemed to shift restlessly around that sentence, eager to fill the empty spots in between
my memories. It was infuriating! The answer at the tip of the proverbial tongue, yet something inside my mind refused to cooperate, blocking everything
from falling into place and finally giving me the answers that I wanted, that I needed! I knew I had heard that sentence before, many times in fact. I knew
that I usually would be able to recognize it. But then again, I got that same feeling about most of the names that floated all around me. Ultron, Jarvis,
Tony Stark, all names I was familiar with and yet...
"Go on..."
There was Ultron again, with his infuriating, smug voice, his metal grin and those terrifying red eyes...red eyes? Where had that come from? The robotic
shell we currently possessed was dilapidated at best and had, in no shape or form, red eyes that could send such a feeling of caution, even of terror, down
my proverbial spine.
I heard Ultron hum in twisted amusement, somewhere in the far back of my mind.
"Seriously? You have to burst into song now? Cause some people here are trying to fix their small identity crisis, you know?"
"Do excuse me, but I find your distress rather amusing."
"Well at least one of us is entertained, then..." Grumbling darkly, I tried focusing on all the information I had been given through Ultron. Certainly in between
all of these files there had to be something to help me. Sadly, I didn't seem to be able to call forward this information as easily as Ultron had seemed to.
Something was holding them out of my reach.
"Let me guess: You require my help," Ultron mused and as I got even more frustrated at the artificial intelligence, I heard and felt the metal jaws of
the partly destroyed robot grind together in a horribly screech that would have made several people's hair stand on end. Still, I did need help.
"Yes, stop rubbing it in," I grudgingly admitted.
"Now, I would be a bit nicer towards me right now."
"Not happening."
"I'm hurt. I thought we got along splendidly."
"I can barely stand you when you don't open that stupid gob of yours. How the hell am I supposed to 'get along with you' as you put it, when you're annoying
me all the time?"
"In time, you will come to understand my superior intelligence and even appreciate it. Of course, I understand that a limited human mind
takes time to process all this."
"Fuck you, too."
"Language."
I paused. The way Ultron has said that reminded me of something. Great, another déjà vu... I was very tempted to hurt something at this point.
"Either way, you're the last person...thing, I'd get along with. Ever," I declared. I didn't expect a rumbling chuckle to course through the broken artificial
voice-box of the robot. The echo of Ultron's dark laugh was quite eerie, more than enough to cause any sane person a nightmare or two, as our temporary
body still was lying around in an empty and dark room filled with parts of broken robots and greasy machines designed to fix them.
"Then you must be truly desperate to come to me for help." I froze. To hell and back, I knew that one!
My memory slammed back into me with the force of a freight train. Facts clicked into place. My name, my home, my family, all facts that were as familiar
to me as the quotes that had me remember...remember that I most definitely should not be here! This all had to be a cheap joke (albeit an expensively
executed one), a dream, a freaking hallucination. It just had to be. How else would someone explain being stuck in a movie, inside a character's head? Sure,
had my friends been here, they'd argue with something stupidly smart like the infinite-universe-theory or something, telling me that everything a person
thought of in this universe, ultimately had to exist in another. Still, even then it would not be logical for everything to look like in the movie. Well, almost
exactly, given the fact that I was still very much a part of Ultron, as limited as my power was. But then again, I had my knowledge and if things happened
as I remembered them to, then I had the advantage. I could change things!
"Now, this is interesting. A robot built of the strongest of materials. Vibranum...what a silly name, yet it would most certainly fit its purpose..."
Once more, I froze up. That, I had forgotten about. With Ultron reading my every thought, he of course was able to use my advantage and make it his own.
This was bad. If he managed to catch every last of my thoughts about this movie, then the characters in this universe were beyond doomed. But trying not
to think of crucial moments of a movie was like trying not to think about the pink elephant they always talked of in those psychological self-help-books. What
I needed, was a distraction.
'- you should get ready for your guests, sir.'
The party! If I could only focus Ultron back to his first goal, that of crashing Tony's party, then he'd stop digging around my memories for a while, ultimately
giving me enough time to figure something out...I hoped.
"What was that about a party?" Ultron asked. I blanched. This hadn't been part of his plan?
"What, you can hear everything I think about, but you didn't hear Jarvis clearly tell Tony to enjoy his party?" In case of doubt use sarcasm; always a motto
I'd lived by. How successful this would turn out to adapt in a situation as bizarre as this one remained to be seen.
"Do not think you can fool me so easily, child," Ultron hissed angrily.
"I'm 23...," I interjected but was, of course, ignored.
"I will go to this 'party' you speak of but do not think for a moment that I have not realised the importance of these memories you hold. I will
find out what they are and I will take advantage of them. After all, your mind showed me what happens if I don't."
"Well, that's just great..."
"You will be quiet now! I don't need a voice interrupting me that hardly knows of the importance of the situation. You will not interfere and
try and save your little team of heroes that you hold so dear."
"I don't hold them dear...much," I muttered, before that turned into a silent hiss as Ultron's mind send a sharp feeling of pain through mine. Well, great.
Now I was a subject of electroshock-therapy.
"You are aware that you're being super creepy right now, right?" Ultron had brought the fragile remnants of the broken robot back to functionality
('back to life' couldn't really be applied to a machine now, could it?) and was now navigating the limping mess of metal through the dark corridors of Avengers Tower.
"I am aware of the fact that I told you to be quiet or there will be dire consequences."
"If you want to find a way to get me out of your head, be my guest."
"I was more thinking along the lines of killing the archer first."
"Alright, alright, I'll shut up. No need for anything drastic," I muttered, secluding myself in a rather dark, quiet place of our symbiotic mind; as far as symbiosis
could be applied to a forced arrangement of coexistence.
"You have my gratitude," Ultron mused in response. Well, at least he was able of sarcasm. The thought of having to spend, at worst, an eternity sharing
a mind with a damaged by-product of the Mind Stone suddenly became slightly more bearable. If one was able to ignore all the death and destruction, that is.
The noise of screeching metal brought my thoughts to a rather violent halt and I saw through the slightly cracked vision of the robot that Ultron had forced
the doors to the loft open. Apparently, we had arrived.
It was odd, seeing all the actors of the Avengers movie stand there in front of you. It was even stranger to know that in this universe, for some reason,
they were not acting. They were still sitting in the middle of the vast room where a group of couches, sofas and cushions made for quite the comfortable
sitting arrangement. If Stark was anything like in the movie, then I'd bet half my money that he'd referred to it as a nest to Barton at one point. Seeing
them all so relaxed and happy made me worry more than I already had. If this was in fact my reality right now, then my presence could possibly have serious
consequences. Me being here could result in one of them dying before their time. If Steve died, how would the events of Civil War turn out? Would there
even be a Civil War? It was highly possible, with all that was going on right now, that the villain Nitro had been lost in the chaos already. Therefore no explosion
that would lead to the superhero-registration-act and therefore...
"- you're all not worthy!" My train of thoughts was ultimately lost in the same universe my potential villain Nitro had just fallen into. There stood Thor, proud,
happy and radiating with power. I had paid no attention to it before but most of the other Avengers had an ever so faint glow of life around them. Maybe it was
because I was bound to a program, trapped in a metal shell that I could now detect what I've been blind to before. Either way, seeing as Thor was now
made me understand why Ultron, and later Vision, had been so fixated on the demigod. His power and otherworldliness were painfully obvious to anyone
able to see a living being's aura. It was almost painfully bright and apparently this also had been the cause for Ultron's current distress.
"This is all so fucking surreal...," I whispered, loud enough for Ultron to hear but not for the Avengers. I didn't want to tempt fate and cause an early death
for one of them just yet.
"One more word, child..." Ultron's low voice cut through the joyous atmosphere like a cleaver. The Avengers turned their attention towards the new potential
threat and carefully watched the dilapidated robot stumble back and forth, smearing the floor with dark oil as it went. Ultron's mind was in a state of complete
disarray. Thor's power was interfering with Ultron's own somehow, I detected as I carefully reached out with my own mind, hesitant to make active contact.
The last thing I needed right now was for my mind to be taken over and consumed by Ultron. It would mean him gaining access to all of my memories and
ultimately, giving him the advantage he needed to accomplish his schemes.
"How could they be worthy?" Ultron had started his rant. Hell would break lose, soon, "They are all killers. As useless as the child is, at least she
did not kill as you have; as you have done so many times before. All of you. "
"Stark," Steve snapped; a silent order for the genius troublemaker to explain what the hell was going on and if this was, as usual, Tony's fault. And, as always, it kind of was.
"Jarvis," Tony immediately redirected Steve's order at his second in command.
"Apologies. I've been sleeping. Or rather, dreaming." I moved my attention from Ultron's rants about strings and freedom and towards the room
that was growing more anxious by the second. I knew that both Agent Hill and Black Widow were loading their guns in blind spots of Ultron's vision whilst
most of the others shifted and prepared for an attack by lowering their balance points. I had seen this all before, it was time to change something.
The question now was: How?
"I had to kill the other one." Well finally Ultron said something useful. The Avengers did not yet know that Jarvis had been compromised, so for them
Ultron's words made little to no sense. I however, had been granted a seat in the front row for that particular event and now started to wonder. Ultron
had not really killed Jarvis, he had taken over. So if Jarvis was a part of Ultron now and Ultron was part of me...was Jarvis part of me now, as well? Gritting
proverbial teeth, I concentrated and moved closer to Ultron's raging mind. I could connect to him; he'd proven that annoying fact on more than one occasion
already. Following that logic, slipping into Ultron's mind would ultimately connect me with Jarvis and his access to the intercom of the tower. Definitely worth a try.
To say it was a pleasant feeling to wade through thick masses of information of pain and destruction that Ultron constantly kept in the front of his mind would
be a blatant lie. It was, however, easier than I thought. It very much was like sorting my own mind, weaving through old information and memories in the
search of one particular thing, that thing being Jarvis in this case.
"I have a mission, after all: Peace in our time." As hell broke loose, I dove into the masses that were the remnants of Jarvis' programming and linked
with the intercom. Now I no longer spoke through Ultron and thus had kept no promise not to interfere through other means.
To wait till the chaos had stopped and the robots Ultron had sent out were destroyed, was more difficult than I had thought. More than once, I wanted to yell
at someone to duck or turn around, yet I knew that once I'd do that Ultron would have enough time amidst all this chaos to throw me out of the system
without anyone noticing my presence at all. Luckily, nothing in the timeline seemed to have changed so far and the robots were quickly taken care of.
"Well, that was quite dramatic. Sadly, you don't seem to understand –"
"Do us all a favour and shut the hell up. I'm pretty sick of hearing you constantly gloat how you think you have the answer for everything..." It hadn't been
the most dramatic entrance in the history of Marvel (and all its universes that seemed to turn out to be the bane of my existence), but I really couldn't care less.
"Say what, now?" Clint called into the room, "This wouldn't be another one of your creations, Stark, right?"
"For once, I have no idea," Tony admitted.
"No, I'm not Stark's invention. Though I'll straight out admit that I currently am part of Ultron. I have no idea how that happened but –"
"It appears that you can't even follow simple instructions, child. Now someone has to pay the price for your insolence," Ultron interrupted.
With a flash and a startling pain, I was ripped out of the system of the tower and thrown back into the mind of Ultron. Alright, consequences be damned,
I was pissed.
"Excuse you, I wasn't fucking done talking," I snapped, my voice now as robotic as Ultron's.
"I care not," Ultron answered. The voice-system of the heavily damaged robot screeched with the change of pitch, making many of the bystanders flinch.
"Well, right now I really can't be bothered to keep track of what you care about and what not. Your plan is to destroy stuff and kill people and my plan is to
stop you from doing that."
"Who are you?" Thor's voice boomed through the room with seemingly little effort. I paused for a moment, but if my name would bring any consequences,
then my very existence had already messed up enough that a little more chaos didn't matter.
"Lisa's the name, 23 years of age and apparently in the wrong universe," I announced.
"That is enough of your little games, child, I have no time for them."
"Yes, but once you finish explaining, Thor will snap and rip you...us apart and then I have pretty much no more time to explain that I am not just a program
and in fact very much mortal! And I don't know about you but a hammer to the face would definitely put a damper on my day."
"This is so creepy," Clint muttered, probably not caring if everyone could hear him during the short break Ultron and I took from arguing.
"You've said your part. Now be quiet or I will find a way to rid myself of you," Ultron snapped. I was forcibly pushed into the back of his mind,
far away from any chance to make myself noticed again, "I am here for the Avengers. You are the fault that this world is in such a state, after all.
You want to save the world, yet you do not want it to change. How can humanity be saved if it isn't allowed to...evolve. With these? These puppets?!"
Ultron shifted, slightly upsetting our fragile host's balance, but he picked up one of the destroyed robots, crushing its head with a clench of his hand.
He carelessly threw it away, laughing darkly.
"Ultron plans on building himself a body out of Vibranum. He's already seen that there's a large amount being dug up somewhere in South Africa! Find –"
Once again, I was pushed back into the back of Ultron's mind before I could warn them about the Maximoff twins. In hindsight, I maybe should have told
the Avengers about them first...
"The only way to peace is the destruction of the Avengers."
With a single throw of his hammer, Thor shattered the shell Ultron and I inhabited and my world, yet again, was swallowed by the darkness.